Immediately I almost make a huge mistake by going for them. Luckily I catch myself mid-stride so I don’t screw everything up, but it’s still a slightly suspicious movement that causes Call to tense up. I try to brush it off by transitioning into walking in the right direction, but internally I chide myself for being a damn idiot.
Even if they don’t recognize me with the mask on, it doesn’t mean I can’t mess this up. I’m a mystery here. That’s my only advantage, and probably the only reason Call hasn’t tried to put me in restraints. If I’m going to buy Ursula and Fleur enough time to enact whatever the rest of the plan is, then I can’t blow my cover.
“Wow, there sure are a lot of you.” I say to try and shift the focus from my screwup. “How many are staying behind to deal with all the elementals climbing the rig?”
“Half of us.” Call motions with one hand, and it's like a wedge is driven between the group. “If you’re in the latter half you’re staying behind. Everyone else is coming down with me.”
“With us, you mean.” I put as much false sweetness into my voice as possible.
Call’s helmet twitches ever so slightly. “Of course, what was I thinking? Us, not we. It matters oh so much when we’re about to put our safety on the line that I use the right pronoun for a throwaway sentence. Who the hell thought hiring you was a good idea?”
I smirk at his annoyance and clasp my hands behind my back. “My boss. You better be nice to me, or I’ll lead you down all the wrong hallways.”
For some reason, all the other Preservation members following us flinch at that. Including Diane, but not Razi, since Call split them up. I wonder if that was on purpose, or if Call even cares enough about his troops to bother thinking about that. He doesn’t seem like the kind to care, but from his body language, he also doesn’t seem pissed that he’s got troops with him.
‘Course, he could just be good at hiding it. I’ve known the guy for all of two minutes and I’m not a psychologist. Hell, why am I even bothering with this shit? The guy’s our enemy, and there’s a ninety-five percent chance they’re raising the krarig for some reason. I need to focus.
“My… apologies… Isla.” Call grinds out, which seems to physically hurt him. “Please, show us what you have found.”
Man, this guy’s insanely easy to read. No way he’s a higher up at the Preservation and this unprofessional–if I wasn’t purposely skewing with him, it’d be really easy to take advantage of him. Actually… why the hell shouldn’t I take advantage of him?
“No problem! We’re all working together to bring the krarig down, even if I’m here for some class coins on the side. Oh, I just thought of how you can pay me for my services!’
“Is that so?” Call says through what sounds like clenched teeth. “Do tell.”
I giggle, which sounds wrong coming out of my mouth, and wave off Call’s worries. “It’s not like that; I’ve just been out of the loop for a while, and I want to know what happened with the mass evacuation a few weeks back. I came back from the other world, like, three weeks ago and found my home completely empty.”
“Hrm. Let me see if that information’s still classified.” Call mutters to himself, then starts pawing at thin air. He must have some kind of display in his armor. “Looks like a news story came out a few weeks ago, so it’s fine to tell you. Apparently the subway company didn’t properly dispose of their old cars; they just abandoned a station and sealed them all in. They turned, reproduced, and now there’s an infestation of subwyrms under the city. The in-progress work is still classified, so you’ll have to be satisfied with that.”
Subwyrms? That doesn’t sound like the right city. Probably should’ve been… wait. No. On the day I found my class coin, the trains were running wrong. One dragonjet wouldn’t cause a city-wide evacuation. But a nest of subwyrms, all tunneling through the ground under buildings and being super dangerous? That’s worth an evacuation.
“Wait… did you say they reproduced?”
“No.” Call states quickly. “I didn’t.”
Pearl nods vigorously, proving that I didn’t hear wrong. But I don’t gain anything from pressing Call further right now. Worst comes to worst, we can kidnap him when this is all over and interrogate him back at the resort.
I shrug nonchalantly and pretend to accept his answer. “Okay. Well, when I came back, my sister evacuated and left her phone in our house. She hasn’t called me since, and I’m a little worried that she’s hurt. Where’d you relocate all the people to?”
“Classified. But if you give me a name, I’ll make sure she gets a message.”
…Yeah, that’s a little too risky for my liking. No way am I putting Jazz in danger.
“No, I don’t really trust you.” I say with a smile in my voice. “I’ve seen what the Preservation does to people they think are too dangerous. And if, someday, you decide that’s me, I don’t want her getting caught up in all this.”
Much to my surprise, Call nods. “I get it. Looks like we’re here; anything we should be worried about in the entrance?”
The giant entrance edged with salt crystals yawns at us from just a few feet away. With my awareness, I can’t see any further than the end of the cafeteria. Beyond that is the hole in the ground and the direction we didn’t go; hopefully it’s long and empty enough for a good wild goose chase.
“Not really; just more elementals and some weird feelings.” I step confidently through the threshold and look around, even though I can already ‘see’ everything. “Looks like none of the other vending machines turned into vendiators, but be careful. Something could be in the middle of turning.”
Call hurries ahead of me, and his entourage follows. I stay behind for a few seconds, pretending to take in the scenery, and wait for Diane to walk up to me. Just in case the mask doesn’t work for some reason, it’s better to get caught now instead of later.
Her path carries her right up to me. She glances at me sideways, as if confused why I stopped, and keeps moving. If she recognized me, then she’s a master at hiding it. More likely is that the mask actually works, and that someone I thought was at least an acquaintance is now my enemy.
None of the other Preservation members catch my eye. Most of them carry weapons, or spell books, or some other thing that blatantly advertises what kind of class they are. Only me and Call don’t wear our classes on our sleeves, which is something I should probably change if I want to pass as an enthusiastic weakling.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Actually, scratch that–I’ve got a gun on my hip. Hopefully that’s class-agnostic, just like Call’s armor. I speed up a little and take my place next to him once again. For some reason that draws a few gasps from the crowd, but they’re the ones that get bonuses from their Body stat, so they shouldn’t be surprised.
I hadn’t thought of them as particularly weak, but if this is enough to surprise them, then maybe they are.
“Don’t go down the big hole–I can’t tell if it even has a bottom.” I join Call in looking over the railing, then point in the direction we went. “That way used to have a big staircase, but it collapsed when we first went down it. There’s nothing but dead ends down that way, but if you want to go down anyway, you’ll have to find some way to get back up. And get down, I guess.”
Call nods. “And the other exits?”
“We didn’t have enough people to really split up, so we just explored that way. It took us a while to fight through the vendigators, so it was really annoying when we didn’t find much of anything. Oh, unless you’re looking for weird salt plants. There’s plenty of them where we went, just no class coins.” I cross my arms, shake my head, and sigh. “Or else we’d be long gone.”
“Okay. Half of you get ready for combat and go down the unexplored path.”
Call looks over his shoulder, pauses for a second, then traces a finger through the air. The group is separated in two once more, but this time, it isn’t just a simple bar in the middle. Some people are pushed to one side, some to the other, but there isn’t any obvious rhyme or reason to the choices. He gestures at everyone on one half of the divide with four fingers spread wide.
“Keep close communication with each other, and don’t stray beyond comms range. If you hear static instead of voices, regroup. We can’t do anything about the magical storm, but we can do everything we can to minimize its effects. Remember–I get a bonus for every one of you that doesn’t die. So don’t.”
I roll my eyes as a wave of excitement floods through the group. That was, quite possibly, the least inspiring speech I’ve ever heard. But hey, whatever gets the motivation sparking.
“Is the other half coming with us?”
“Nowhere else for them to go, now is there?”
“I guess not.”
With Call and half of the Preservation’s forces hot on my heels, I walk down the exact same path I’d just walked a few days ago. It’s a little nostalgic watching the salt blossoms grow in complexity as we get closer and closer, but then it gets… way more complex. Arches of flowers ring the hallway like a botanical garden, vines and stems interlaced in a lattice of thicker salt crystals that definitely weren’t there before.
Is this Fleur’s way of saying she’s watching me? Well, if it is, she has a really aesthetic way of doing it. A way I don’t hate at all.
It doesn't take long for us to get to the huge room with a clover floor and hanging sunflowers. Quiet oohs and aahs leak out from the group as I lead us onto the rickety metal platform, none of which come from Call. I turn to double-check, and sure enough, Diane’s still with us. Gawking along with all the other Preservation troops.
Call leans over the railing, his arms resting on the rusty metal, and clicks his tongue. “It looks like you’re right. How did the staircase collapse?”
“Cannonball sunflowers.”
He slowly turns to look at me. “Cannonball sunflowers.”
“Mmhm.” I confirm with a nod. “We dealt with them a few days ago, but I don’t know what’ll happen when new people go down there. Watch out for them reloading or something.”
THOOM!
An echoing explosion rocks the scaffolding under my feet. Panic instantly spreads through the Preservation troops, and though the rumbing aftershocks, Call sighs under his breath and mutters something about being ‘put in charge of the newbies’. But… I thought the Preservation stopped sending low-level troops. Why show up with over fifty of them now?
Call claps his hands, and a wave of compulsion washes over me. I brush it away with a quiet sneer, then chide myself for forgetting my cover and turn towards him. Everyone else stops panicking immediately, and they all focus on him with an intensity only magic or intense charisma can manage.
“Don’t worry! We’re here to deal with this, but it doesn’t mean I’m going to let any of you get hurt!” He lowers his hands, then gestures down at the ground below. “The krarig is waking up. There’s no arguing that. None of you are strong enough to deal with it, but you’re strong enough to defend yourselves while you gather samples. Isla is going to guide me down while all of you find whatever salt formations stand out as strange, interesting, or just plain weird. But if things get really bad, you all have your one-way ticket out of here. I’m authorizing free use of it, with no consequences on return. Stay alive first, get samples second.”
A murmur of disbelief spreads through the group.
“What did he say?”
“My old speaker never…”
“He’s got to be lying.”
All of them don’t seem to believe Call. That’s not a vote of confidence for the higher-ups in the Preservation. But since I know the truth about this… he’s probably trying to avoid a scandal. The Preservation obviously has other plans for the krarig that don’t involve any of the fodder Call brought along with him. Something to do with the salt, for one, and a reason they didn’t just vaporize the krarig the second it became a risk.
I close my eyes and focus on the coins in my holster. Call is obviously experienced. He’s probably powerful. And if he’s the one leading this, he’s got to know more about why the Preservation’s risking another Greenland situation.
March’s voice crackles to life as Call continues to pump up his troops. “Gambler, Mercenary is dealing with the dumpceratops and Fleur sealed the floor in the tall room. But the dumpceratops is acting weird; it isn’t just trying to kill her, it seems like it's looking for something. If she finds out what it is, I’ll report it to you. Good luck.”
While Call and the Preservation are occupied, I lean against the railing and purse my lips. He’s said a few things about destroying the krarig, hasn’t he? Is he actually being serious? Or is that just empty promises to keep the low-level troops thinking they’re doing the right thing?
I honestly don’t know. The power structure of the Preservation is a complete mystery to me. Speakers could be the top of the top for all I know, or they could just be another branch of their military. But I can’t let it stay that way. When I get back to the resort, I need to learn everything about the Preservation so I’m not stuck here wondering again.
“You and you. Stay with Isla and make sure she doesn’t go anywhere.”
I blink in surprise as Call points past me. Shouldn’t be surprised, honestly, but he did a damn good job of making it seem like he wanted to work with me. Then I actually look at who he pointed at and wince a little. Of course one of them is Diane, who he couldn’t know I have a connection to, and the other’s a huge guy with a neck as thick as his bulging thighs and beady little eyes that shine with gleeful obedience.
He’s either a fanboy or a little too happy to be alone with a woman he’s been given orders to keep put. Neither of those options are good for me, and one’s so much worse than the other.
“Hey, I thought we were in this together.”
“We are. Just not how you think.” Call apologizes, though it could easily be fake. “Take her to the main room and make sure she doesn’t go down either of the hallways. Until we contact her employer, do not let her go.”
I can’t help but snort in amusement. “You’re trusting everything I’ve told you up until this point, but letting me go with you is where you draw the line? That’s crazy.”
“It’s protocol.” Call shrugs and gestures down at the ground far below. Shimmering shapes fill the air, snapping together until there’s a magical staircase leading all the way down. He doesn’t say anything else as he leads the group down his self-made stairway.
As everyone else leaves, Diane and big neck stay behind. They share a look, then each grab one of my arms and forcefully lead me back into the main room. It’s not exactly how I pictured this would go, but as long as they don’t destroy the floor in the clover room, Fleur and Ursula are free to do whatever they need to.
I struggle slightly against the pair's grips, and much to my surprise, Diane's is so much tighter. The big guy's almost feels like he's scared to crush me, but hers is an iron vice. With the two very different hands around my arms, the first inklings of a very stupid plan start to rattle around in my brain. And it all starts with taking a hostage.